Nelvana Home Entertainment Launched

Corus Ent. Inc. has created a new home entertainment division for its production, distribution and consumer products subsidiary, Nelvana Ltd. Nelvana is the animation company behind such popular properties as Beyblade, Babar and Franklin.

The newly minted Nelvana Home Entertainment will tap Nelvana’s library of more than 2,400 titles to leverage a stake in the $23 billion home video market. The company has formed two strategic partnerships for U.S. and U.K. distribution of back-catalog properties.

Texas-based FUNimation Prods., licensor of anime brands including Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh!, will release 44 of Nelvana’s library titles in the U.S. market, including Redwall, Tales of the Crypt Keeper, Pecola and Moville Mysteries. A potential co-production partner, FUNimation will also act as a strategic partner on prospective new anime productions.

In the U.K., Maverick has picked up the rights to market 33 Nelvana titles, including Little Bear, Timothy Goes to School, and Maggie and the Ferocious Beast.

“We are extremely excited to launch Nelvana Home Entertainment as we continue to build out multiple revenue platforms that maximize our brand building and enterprise value globally,” says Doug Murphy, exec. VP of business development for Nelvana. “We will continue to source partners in other key territories to leverage the wealth of international opportunity in this market.”